Going Postal!

I´ve recently joined Nancy Baumiller´s creative team, and here are my first pieces for her Crowabout StudioB at Mischief Circus, all made with images from her new kit "Going Postal - Mail Art". I´ve had a lot of fun making Zetti styled cut and paste artwork with the collage sheets that come with her kit.
The first one above is a Moleskine journal page, the background is from Nancy´s kit "Flying Lessons".
The picture below shows a collage made on a mailing envelope with a background from her kit "Dress Up".

 And this third piece below is a Mail Art envelope, also made on a background from "Dress Up".

Inspired by Dr Seuss

If you´re from the U. S., you probably know Dr Seuss, but if you´re from Germany, you probably don´t - in spite of his German name. In fact, there are only four of his books available in German translations, but I´m sure that you know some of his characters like The Grinch, Lorax or Horton, the elephant.
Did you know that Dr Seuss (1904-1991) even appears in the lyrics of the REM song "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" (with today´s U. S. pronunciation, though his name originally rhymed with "voice")?
Typically, Theodor Seuss Geisel used black and white with only one or two colours, many animal characters, and rhymed verses that are easy to read for beginners. And in contrary to a lot of German children´s books, his stories aren´t moralizing but celebrating fun. So what´s not to love about him? That´s the reason why I´ve picked "Inspired by Dr Seuss" as this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge: I ask you to capture the essence of his work but use your own images and not his - copyrighted! - images. Be inspired by his verses, quotes, characters and style! (Of course you can use those lovely U. S. postage stamps or even those few rubber stamps with his images, if you´re so lucky to own them.) Or just google his quotes and illustrate one of them - it´s up to you.
My sample card is a mixture of the above mentioned as I used one of his quotes, two of the postage stamps dedicated to him, and characters from his book "The Cat in the Hat" (in my own interpretation, using rubber stamps from Brett Weldele/Stampers Anonymous, PSX, My Favorite Things, Aladine/Stampo and Crafty Individuals and a hat image from Pixel Music), and I tried to use the same colours as this particular book.
I can´t wait to see your Dr Seuss cards this week!

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 11

Our Postage People swap is coming to an end now with less than one week left before the due date.
Today I received another envelope with lovely ATCs from Polly, but I´m still waiting for her link as well as Glenda´s.
For those of you who are on Facebook, I have a link to Brandie´s ATC; if you´re not a member, it may be possible to have a look at it, but you can´t comment.
Yesterday, I´ve sent out personal emails to a few people who haven´t answered my previous emails, but without much effect. So if you read this, Melodee, Melissa, and Tarja, please contact me!
That´s all for today, hope you´re having a sunny week!

Love Can´t Be Measured

Usually, I don´t do scrapbooking, and usually, I avoid making any wedding themed artwork ... so this week´s challenge #410 at The Digi Dares was really challenging for me!
We´ve been asked to scrap a wedding, using something old, something new/shiny, something blue and the year of the wedding in numbers from an alpha. I decided to use my grandparents´ wedding photo again.
(credits: background from Roben Marie Smith, frame from Christina Renee, measure tapes from Manuela Zimmermann, scales from farfarhill, watch from ViVa Artistry, alpha from Miki Ferkul, numbers from Jen Reed)

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 10

It´s time for my next swap update, and I must say I´m frustrated because of a lack of feedback to my swap reminder email that I´ve sent out two weeks ago (only to those of you who are concerned, of course). There are still 8 people who signed up for this swap many weeks ago but haven´t responded in any way since, and I have no idea why. With weekly updates, newsletters, reminders, and even posts on Facebook, I thought there were enough ways to follow this swap and to leave comments, send messages telling me about your problems with the swap or any other stuff - but obviously I´ve been wrong. I´ve never had less feedback for any of my swaps in the past from those who already signed up. If you have any suggestions for me how I could improve my "swap management", please let me know.

However, this swap will be finished in less than two weeks, and at least I´ve received 18 envelopes so far. I´ve sent out a second swap reminder today "to whom it may concern", and all I can do is to ask again for your response. So please have a look into your emails (you know who you are) and even into your spam folders, just in case ...
All cards have to be in my hands before June 30, so if you´re from Europe, you should put your envelope in the mail this week, and if you´re from overseas, you have to mail it NOW.
Even if you´re not able to mail your ATCs in time, please let me know!

But wait, there´s some good news today, too: During the last week, I didn´t receive any ATCs, but I have two links to wonderful finished ATCs for you from Sandy and Trisha - please have a look at their cards and leave them a nice comment if you like what you see!

I hope you enjoy the summer sunshine like I do, have a creative week!

Postage People Revisted Blog Swap Update No. 9

It´s Wednesday again, so it´s time for my next swap update.

Last week, I received envelopes from Trudi, Glenda and Brandie, but I only have the link to Trudi´s ATC for you, still waiting for some links to blog posts ... please don´t forget to share your links so that everyone can have a look at your artwork and leave a comment!
Right now I have 18 envelopes here (together with my own finished ATCs of course), but I´m still waiting for 9 more, 7 of them from outside Europe.

Please remember that all ATCs have to be in my hands in three weeks (before June 30).
We have a postal strike in Germany right now which will slow down everything, so I might wait a few days longer, but only if you´ve sent your ATCs in time: That means that you have to send your ATCs before June 15 if you´re from outside Europe and before June 23 if you´re from Europe but outside Germany.
If you won´t be able to meet these deadlines, please let me know and I´ll delete your name from the swap list.

So have a creative week, finish your cards and get your envelopes in the mail please.

At the Beach

When it comes to summer fun and a day at the beach, I tend to think that less is more, so I´ve kept my card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge very simple and clear. All images and stamps used here are from Red Lead.

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 8

It´s time for my next update on our swap, and if you wonder about the ATC above - yes, the green Spanish stamp is a real one, the others are just printed on the background paper! The rubber stamped images are from Katzelkraft, MaVinci, VivaLasVegas, and Stampington.

Last week, I´ve received swap ATCs from Gina, Marita, Ulrike, and Trisha, and I´ve had one more sign-up for this swap.
Right now, we´re 29 artists in this swap, and I have received 15 envelopes. Almost all the others haven´t even posted their finished ATCs though all cards have to be in my hands in less than 4 weeks and almost all of them have to travel the long way from overseas ...
If you´re from outside Europe, please finish your ATCs soon and put them in the mail within the next 2 weeks. And don´t forget to scan and post them and then send me the link to your post so that I can pin your cards and share your link in my next update. I`ll send out a reminder to all participants who haven´t sent anything yet.

If you haven´t noticed the new ATCs on our swap board at Pinterest yet, please have a look at Ulrike´s lovely cards on her blog and leave her a comment if you like them.

This swap has reached its final month now, and I can´t wait to see the next results! Have fun creating!

Cassandra

Since my teenage days, I´ve been fascinated by the story of Cassandra, especially in the feminist version by German writer Christa Wolf, so I decided to use it for my postcard for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Greek Mythology". I´ve used images from Finecrafted Designs and a texture from Nancy Donaldson for my digital collage.

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 7

May I introduce you to Underwater Fred? He was made adding rubber stamps from Katzelkraft and Technique Tuesday, a few words from Catslife Press, and his best friend, the fish, is from Tumble Fish Studio.

Last week, I received the beautiful ATCs by Judith in my mailbox - please follow the link to have a look at them and maybe leave her a nice comment!

So now I have received 11 envelopes, which means that most participants haven´t sent theirs yet.
As so many international participants haven´t finished their ATCs yet and all cards have to be in my hands in less than five weeks, I´m getting a bit nervous now. If you´re from outside Europe, please keep in mind that your envelope will take about two weeks to find its way into my mailbox ...
I hope that you´re all still having fun with your creations but will finish them soon, then send me a link to your post and mail them to me in time.

Sirens of the Deep

Marsha from Tumble Fish Studio and Nancy from Crowabout Studio have both come out with a Sirens of the Deep kit today over at MischiefCircus.com, and of course it´s easy to combine them!
The collage above was made with Marsha´s kit only, but I´ve mixed the two kits for the collage below.
And if you prefer making journal pages, ATCs or any other cut and paste art, both kits come with printable collage sheets as well.

Spring Tag Book

A few weeks ago, there was a Spring Tag Book swap in one of my Yahoo groups. I didn´t have the time to make two of these in time, but I really had fun making just one for my sister´s birthday.
The accordion folded book is made of four tags, held together by tissue tape, then gessoed and inked before it´s decorated with lots of Spring themed stamps, then coloured with watercolours and embellished with Spring coloured ribbons. You can find the instructions for this project here.

We´ll Always Have Paris

You´ve probably heard the phrase "We´ll always have Paris", a sentence that Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman at the end of "Casablanca" and that evokes romantic images and memories of happy days in Paris. This is what I tried to reflect on my ATCs for the swap with this theme over at the Paper Traders Yahoo Group. And as it´s hard to stop once you´ve started making Paris themed cards, I´ve also made a hostess gift card and two more ATCs just for fun ...

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 6

It´s time for my weekly update though I don´t have much news for you today. When I returned from my vacation on Sunday, I found envelopes from Jo, Kati, Lillian and Peggy in my mail, but I haven´t received any emails with links to finished ATCs from other swap participants - maybe you´re all working on your ATCs right now? I really hope so, because your ATCs have to be in my hands in about 5 weeks. Considering that international mail takes up to 2 weeks (if it´s sent in a regular business envelope) and we have a postal strike here in Germany, you should start working on your cards now if you haven´t already ...

Melange Mash Up and Journal Words

What a great, colourful image kit Marsha made with her Melange Mash Up kit that came out today at MischiefCircus.com! I´ve made two digital collages with it for you, "Lohengrin" and "Sing". And to show you that these images can easily be used in your cut and paste artwork, too, I´ve also made the cut and paste journal page in my Moleskine journal that you can see below; the kit comes with png images as well as 14 collage sheets with jpg images.
And if you like the words I´ve used on these pieces, you should have a look at Tumble Fish Studio´s new kit Journal Words 2 that was also released today: I love the design of those words and am sure I´ll use them a lot!

Meow

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Furry Friends", I`ve made a card using the wonderful cat stamp from Stampers Anonymous/Brett Weldele, and additional stamps from Catslife Press and Flamingo Art.

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 5

As I´m still on vacation, I can´t tell you which ATCs arrived in my mailbox since Friday, but I have two new links to finished ATCs for you - you´ll find Gina´s ATCs as the first three pics on her Pinterest board, and Marita has posted her ATCs on Pinterest, too. As neither of them has a blog, please leave your comments on their pinboards if you´re able to, or on our swap pinboard of course.
I´ll be back home on Sunday, and I´ll let you know then if your ATCs arrived in the meantime.
If you like Postage People but haven´t signed up yet, you might consider joining us because there´s plenty of time left before your ATCs have to be in my hands on June 30 ...

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 4

Here´s Agent No. 5, presenting this week´s swap update!

Our swap is running for four weeks now, and there are more than seven weeks left before your ATCs have to be in my hands. Last week, I received envelopes from Peggy (with the first part of her ATCs) and Solvey.

And here are a few links to the latest finished swap ATCs from Birgit, Solvey, Lillian and Kati. Please have a look at their blogs or photo albums and if you like what you see, don´t forget to leave them a comment. Their ATCs have also been pinned to our swap board at Pinterest.

There´s still time to join the swap, so if you´d like to play with us, just send me an email.
Have fun creating!

Stencils

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, I´ve picked "Stencils" as my theme as there are so many ways to use them - you can spray, stipple or sponge through them, or you can scribble within their openings, and you can even use digital stencils in a similar way.

For my sample card above above, I´ve used the four stencils below in different ways, and I can´t wait to see what you´ll do with stencils for your own postcard this week.

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 3

Mr Galilei says welcome to another swap update! Did you realize that this is a really international swap? Right now, we are 26 artists from 8 countries, from Germany, the UK, Finland, Brazil, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, and the USA.

The first envelopes already arrived from Liz, Alexandra, Sabine, and Sirkkis.

And here are this week´s links for you: Please have a look at the posts from Alexandra, Jo, Sirkkis, and Peggy and leave them a comment if you like what you see. I´ve already pinned their ATCs to our swap board at Pinterest here.

There´s still plenty of time to join the swap as all cards have to be in my hands before June 30.

Melange

Marsha from Tumble Fish Studio has come out with some unusual Full Page kits called "Melange", and I´ve used Melange 3 for my cut and paste Moleskine journal page above, and Melange 2 for the page below. Have a look at them and get inspired!

And in case you´ve missed the lovely kits from Hidden Vintage Studios recently, I have some bad news for you that you can make good news for you if you´d like to go shopping during Tracey´s retirement sale here:

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 2

Nofretete is juggling with balls, and I hope that you´re already juggling with ideas for your Postage People ATCs!

Two of you have already finished and posted their ATCs:
Have a look at what Liz and Sabine have posted, and if you like what you see, please don´t forget to leave them a nice comment. I´ve already uploaded them to our Pinterest swap board.

I´ve had a few more sign-ups last week, so now we´re 23 artists from 8 countries in this swap.
If you decide to sign up, please don´t forget to send me your snail mail address so that I can put you on my swap list!

Welcome to Everland!

Marsha from Tumble Fish Studio and Hollie from Holliewood Studios have come out with lovely collaboration kits called "Everland" today at MischiefCircus.com. I´ve combined both kits in my digital collages "Fairy Magic" above and "I Believe" (with a Flaubert quote) below.

Postage People Revisited Blog Swap Update No. 1

Last week I announced my blog swap for this year, and  I´ve already had 20 sign-ups from 7 countries for this swap. I´m sure that many of you will feel inspired and some will join the fun soon! 

To send you in the right direction, here are a few more Postage People samples (not all of them ATC sized!) that haven´t been on my Pinterest inspiration board last week - I´ll upload them now for future reference.

There´s also another Pinterest board just for this current swap that you´ll find here. This is where I´ll upload the ATCs made by all the participants in this swap.

If you´re feeling inspired now and consider to join us, please read the announcement post carefully and remember: There´s no sign up date, but don´t forget that your ATCs have to be in my hands before June 30. Can´t wait to see your Postage People ideas! 

Announcing my 9th Annual Blog Swap: Postage People Revisited!

It´s time again for my Annual ATC Blog Swap! This year´s theme is Postage People Revisited, and I hope you´ll be inspired by it!

I´ve had a Postage People Blog Swap in 2008 already which has been a big success, and after all these years I thought we should have another one. If you don´t know what Postage People are, please have a look at the samples on my Pinterest Board here.

And there´s also a video on Postage People on my Youtube channel where you can watch me making a card and searching for the right images.

The idea is to mix postage stamps with collage images, stamped images, or even handdrawn images to create new creatures. The heads on the postage stamps can be human as well as animal heads.

I´ve seen some bad examples on the internet of heads not really fitting their bodies, so I ask you to do your best work and really try to find a perfect match! I often draw on the postage stamp to continue the outline of the shoulders. Use your imagination and tell us the story of your new character!

As always, you can use any technique you like - you can stamp, collage, draw, sew, or work digitally (if you use at least one tactile element). So if you join the swap, be aware of the fact that you won´t necessarily receive ATCs in the same technique that you used yourself.

Please sign up via personal email (just click on the link in the sidebar) and let me know your snail mail address. There´s no sign up date.

Then send 3 ATCs (each of them has to be 2,5 x 3,5 inches or 6,4 x 8,9 cm) to my address (that I´ll send you when I answer your email) so that I receive them before June 30, 2015.

There have been some issues with slow mail last year, so please do NOT use a padded or large envelope for your ATCs if you´re from overseas – if you do, the envelope will be held up in the customs for 3-8 weeks! Please do not send any extras for the recipients of your cards, no lovely small envelopes or little gifts please as I would have to pay the extra costs to send these to the recipients!

I will pay the return postage for all international players if you send a little something with your ATCs (trust me, there´s enough space in a business envelope to send along a few stamps, unmounted rubber stamps or ephemera).

If you´re from Germany, please include a return envelope with sufficient postage on it.

As always, you´ll find updates on my blog with links to all participants´ ATCs. So when you´ve finished your ATCs, please send me an email with the link to the place where you´ve posted them online, and I´ll add that link to my next update so that everyone can go to your blog or other website to have a look at your artwork. And we´ll have a Pinterest board again here as a swap gallery for all to visit and comment. Please don´t forget to comment on the other artists´ blogs if you like their cards – we all like a bit feedback, and this swap is all about connecting and getting to know other artists!

Please read the rules again before you decide to sign up and please read the newsletters that will be sent to you if you sign up. I´ve had many issues with people not following the rules last year, and I really have to be sure that you do.

 I´ll send out invitations to all previous participants, but this swap is open to all my blog visitors. Have fun creating!

Eggs

This week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge is "Eggs", and as we´re allowed to use other than Easter eggs, I´ve made a card with my favourite bird, nest, and egg stamps from Red Lead. Happy Easter and a sunny Spring to all of you!